SHAH ALAM: DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang has urged the government to shut down the controversial Biro Tata Negara (BTN) under the Prime Minister’s Department, saying its “brainwashing propaganda courses’ is a major obstacle in nation-building.
The call comes as the Selangor Pakatan Rakyat government imposed a ban on students at its universities and state employees from attending BTN courses, the first time any government has done so.
Opposition members have long accused the BTN of conducting courses to instill youths and civil servants with hatred against the opposition under the guise of promoting nationalism.
Although several parties who attended the courses have attested to this in the past, the BTN courses have continued to be a corner stone of the Barisan Nasional machinery to “educate’ people” on the country’s political landscape.
The debate on the government-run loyalty programme has forced the Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to wade in and deny that the courses are aimed to shore up support for Barisan.
The opposition remain unconvinced, stressing that the courses offered teach only outright loyalty to the the ruling party particularly Umno.
“The BTN as it is the biggest obstacle to 1 Malaysia nation-building,” Lim said. “The BTN is the litmus test whether Najib’s 1 Malaysia slogan is just empty rhetoric or whether he is really prepared to ‘walk the talk’ of creating a united, harmonious and progressive Malaysia,” he added.
Lim said the BTN courses have been shrouded in secrecy.
“Participants are not allowed their mobile phones and other electronic media gadgets, lectures and course notes are also not allowed to be taken away after the indoctrination,” he added.
Lim deplored Muhyiddin’s contention that BTN courses were not racist and was is line with the 1 Malaysia concept.
“It is most shocking that… Muhyiddin can defend such communal poison in BTN courses,” he said.
Kit Siang said Najib should be bold enough to reveal the truth behind BTN courses.
“Is the Cabinet prepared to order a full public inquiry so that Malaysians can know the truth about the BTN courses … how it deviated from its original purpose to foster nationalism to become a great obstacle to national unity by pumping communal poison and promoting racial ill-will and hatred?” Kit Siang asked.
FMT
29/11/09
The call comes as the Selangor Pakatan Rakyat government imposed a ban on students at its universities and state employees from attending BTN courses, the first time any government has done so.
Opposition members have long accused the BTN of conducting courses to instill youths and civil servants with hatred against the opposition under the guise of promoting nationalism.
Although several parties who attended the courses have attested to this in the past, the BTN courses have continued to be a corner stone of the Barisan Nasional machinery to “educate’ people” on the country’s political landscape.
The debate on the government-run loyalty programme has forced the Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to wade in and deny that the courses are aimed to shore up support for Barisan.
The opposition remain unconvinced, stressing that the courses offered teach only outright loyalty to the the ruling party particularly Umno.
“The BTN as it is the biggest obstacle to 1 Malaysia nation-building,” Lim said. “The BTN is the litmus test whether Najib’s 1 Malaysia slogan is just empty rhetoric or whether he is really prepared to ‘walk the talk’ of creating a united, harmonious and progressive Malaysia,” he added.
Lim said the BTN courses have been shrouded in secrecy.
“Participants are not allowed their mobile phones and other electronic media gadgets, lectures and course notes are also not allowed to be taken away after the indoctrination,” he added.
Lim deplored Muhyiddin’s contention that BTN courses were not racist and was is line with the 1 Malaysia concept.
“It is most shocking that… Muhyiddin can defend such communal poison in BTN courses,” he said.
Kit Siang said Najib should be bold enough to reveal the truth behind BTN courses.
“Is the Cabinet prepared to order a full public inquiry so that Malaysians can know the truth about the BTN courses … how it deviated from its original purpose to foster nationalism to become a great obstacle to national unity by pumping communal poison and promoting racial ill-will and hatred?” Kit Siang asked.
FMT
29/11/09
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